Buckshot Dot, AKA Dee Strickland Johnson, wrote this poem in 1940 when she was 9 years old. The image we’ve chose to accompany it is by Linda Holtby, Member 20,966, of faces in the clouds over the Hamble river, England.
THE OLD OLD MAN
His beard is so long it touches his toes.
If I were to paint him, he’d have a red nose.
He does not talk, nor gather a crowd,
For this old old man — is only a cloud.
© Dottie Jean Strickland* 1940, age 9
Fern Gadd sent this painting entitled “High Country”. She told us “there are the most spectacular cloud formations in western US, and I frequently use them as references in my paintings”.
Stefano Poli, Member 28,222, filmed this Kelvin-Helmholtz formation over Mount Grem in the Orobic Alps, Italy
Bonnie Boothroyd was driving and when she came over the crest of a hill and before her was a fascinating skyscape which inspired this poem. We’ve paired it with an image from our gallery of Cumulonimbus over Bosse, Belgium © Sunwalker
Layers
The sky overhead hangs low, leaden
threatening my mood
In the distance though, a wide clear patch of fading blue
And off near the horizon
identically long and narrow
ephemeral wingless airships hover
Yet another layer beyond
framed by the darkening springtime sky
Cumulonimbus
explode to altitudes so
high they capture the glow
of a sun already set
and I wonder, for folks
beneath those sun swelled clouds
does the sky hang
dark and low?
b mackenzie boothroyd
Artist, Denise Clark Weston, sent us her latest oil on canvas “Ocean Walk” painting. You can see more of her work on her website.
The Morning Glory cloud is a roll cloud in Australia that gliders surf…
Artist, Amanda Cassidy, Member 60,026 created this stop frame animation entitled ‘Solitary Skies’. You can see more of her work on her website
Stephen, Member 19,127 sent us this suggestion for the Music to Watch Clouds By section of our website. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Massimiliano Squadroni has sent the latest time-lapse video “Sunrise and Sunset, from Alps to Apennines” that was filmed on 2nd April 2023.
Kathleen Janick, member 49,856, recently wrote this poem inspired by fog on the coast of Maine, USA
Doug MacBean sent us his painting entitled “Dofasco 2000 Trail in Hamilton”. It was sold through the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario in 2022 and is oil on canvas. He told us “I’ve been painting clouds for over 30 years and I feel I’m getting better”
Flora Eginton, member 32241, suggested ‘Stormy Monday’ by T-Bone Walker for the Music to Watch Clouds By section of our website.
Ric Johnson wrote this poem after walking alongside the River Weaver in Cheshire, UK and was inspired by the clouds that appeared overhead. You can see more of his work on his website.
SKY PEBBLES
Tight knit, these pebbles
Although not knitted at all
If our brains were in place.
Magically magical
But truly, touchingly magical
Though impossible to touch.
As if some god had woven them
Having shouted at stray clouds
To form up and bunch in tight.
Just letting us know
Down here but looking up
That some gods value beauty.
Whether knit one, pearl one
Is this god’s speciality
Is unknown to me.
However tightly knitted they seem
We know each pebble
Has its own resolve in place.
The resolve to be fluidly individual
Unmindful of watchers
Careless of admiration.
And, of a sudden
As I looked
Change and separation all around.
Pebbles unformed themselves
Indifferent to me, or the god
And how we thought of them.
No longer pebbles
Neither galleons nor dragons
Whales, pigs nor eagles.
But spectacle and grandeur
Clouds shaping, reshaping
Each day of our lives.
Well, fancy that!
© Ric Johnson
Evelyn Wayment, Member 58,578, painted this cloud for a school project – we think it’s great and would love to see more of her art.
“Theme from Harry’s Game” was suggested by Duncan Bulman who told us “Next time you get the chance to view the sunrise put on headphones and play this”
George Preoteasa, Member 41,445, joined us on our 2022 Sky Holiday to Canada to see the Northern Lights. On his last night he set up a camera by the lake taking time-lapse pictures for 6 hours from 10pm. The film is about 4 minutes long and ends with clouds rolling in, while the aurora green is still the dominant light.
David Fitch is an artist residing in Texas and Maine. He told us, “as a private pilot I spend alot of time looking at clouds, mostly trying to figure out how to get over, under, around or through them. So their ever-changing shape is of keen interest to me. As an artist I thoroughly enjoy recreating these forms like this one which represents a summer afternoon Cumulus congestus fueled by the warm moist air coming off the Gulf of Mexico in South Texas”.
Buckshot Dot, AKA Dee Strickland Johnson, sent us this poem reflecting on sky. We’ve paired it with this mixed sky over the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia by Ebony Willson, Member 53,124
The Sky Without Clouds
A day without clouds is the sky at its least.
We had one here just recently.
Be they piles, or wisps, or fantastic shapes,
they continue to fascinate me.
They pose, slowly move, or they change all the time.
They’re now like a scatt’ring of sheep —
hurrying, scurrying, playing around
just below tops of the high mountain peaks.
© Buckshot Dot, AKA Dee Strickland Johnson 2022
~ ~ ~ ~~
*AKA Dee Strickland Johnson
“Sky Puzzle” is a recent painting by Ned Stern who works from his studio at The Pendleton Art Center, in Cincinnati, where he can be found daily. More of his work can be seen on his website.
Rebecca Hosking, an Australian photographer, has shared a second timelapse video of the ocean cloud scape along the Great Ocean Road, Fairhaven, in Victoria, Australia.
Ned Stern has been painting professionally since he graduated from college. He received his degree in Fine Art from The American University in Washington, D.C. This is one of his recent paintings entitled “In the Clouds”. You can see more of his work on his website
Keshet Amalia Wistenberg recently sent us this poem to share with the CAS community. We’ve paired it with an image from our Photo Gallery by Ernesto Astiazaran of a joyful cirrus face over Tucson, Arizona, US.
Vantage Point
Fribbling, trotting,
In circles abounding,
Our smidgens of forms
So dear, yet so far.
We click and we squabble,
Enwrangled, surrounding,
By godlies, by froundies,
By tresses of star.
They drift and they float
And they sweep up the foundlings,
Who live in their castles,
Their dreamy memoir.
They follow, they peer at
We short-sighting groundlings,
And ‘member it all
In their mountains on par.
When angry, we quarrel,
With teeth, steam abounding,
When they do, they weep,
As they know what we are.
We’re boorish, we’re legged,
We’re scraggle-pip-thounding,
We’re dirty and little
and thoughtless, wind scar.
They weep and they roar,
Erupt, all propounding,
They do so as schedule
Makes bare who they bar.
For us, we’re the peasants,
sca-venging, sca-rounging,
And them all the king, and the chief
And the tsar.
We imagine a vastly
Built ever so rounding,
For us in the center,
The jam in the jar.
‘Truly?’ ‘Tis factin?’
We shriek, throbbing, pounding,
For deep’st we know’st
Our knowings off par.
The clouds, are our windows,
From here to the bounding,
Old boundary of here
To the great world their from,
The clouds are our windows,
From here to the bounding,
Old boundary of here
To the great world to come.
© Keshet Amalia Wistenberg
Sherry Palmer, Member 27,151 sent us her recent painting of Beinn Sgritheall, the highest mountain on the Glenelg Peninsula in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland.
David Oscarson, supporting member 40614 sent us this poem he recently composed. It centres around falling snow and encroaching clouds that cover the mountains.
Daryl D Johnson, member 45,193 is an artist based in New Orleans. She told us “Surrounding my studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA are spectacular skies and sunsets. I paint to express the exploding chi of clouds”.
Karen Fitzgerald is a mid-career visual artist living and working in New York City.
Massimiliano Squadroni has sent the latest time-lapse video. He told us “it’s a journey above the clouds that begins at the snow-covered Gavia Pass, rises to the peaks of Monte Rosa, bivouac in front of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo illuminated by the first light of day, flies over the Auronzo valley and the Sella Pass, the clouds are colored like in an aurora, the Apennines, the mists of Pian Grande hide what remains of the town of Castelluccio”.
Ian Morris is an artist from Manchester, England. He works in different mediums and sent us one of his recent cloud related artworks.
Julie Schaeffer, Member 59,332 lives on Marshy Creek in Grasonville, MD. She created this relaxing video with images of different clouds and quotations.
Artist, Hyejin Park, has sent us her latest watercolour – a peaceful cloud to bring some calmness to our day.
Mary Williamson, Member 54,343, found this video where the lyrics to Mr Blue Sky have been turned into AI cloud art. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Sherman Schapiro, Member 56,083, sent this short poem inspired by our Halloween Cloud-a-Day – an Altocumulus ‘supercilium’, a cloud term yet to be recognised as an official one, spotted haunting the sky over San Anselmo, California, US by Lee FitzGerald (Member 50,400).
Heavenly “Boo!”
Eerie skies above,
like tentacles descending.
Clouds for Hallowe’en.
© Sherman Schapiro
Sandro Lecca (Member 58,283), who is based in Sardinia, Italy, has put together a compilation of classic cloud-themed scenes from the world of cinema. Including clips from directors like Arnold Fanck in the 1920s, Sergei Eisenstein in the 1930s, Roberto Rossellini in the 1950s right up to those of the modern day, ‘Cinema e Nuvole’ is Sandro’s homage to the sky in movies. You’ll find the sources of the clips he featured listed at the end.
Samual Wagner (AKA The Reverend Sam), was taking a cross-country train trip through the USA in the summer of 2019. He told us “One day in the dining car I met the nicest old lady. We shared pictures of clouds, and she introduced me to the Cloud Appreciation Society. The clouds were so beautiful and she was so sweet I had to make a song about it”
Sherwin Berger, member 18,239, sent us his latest cloud inspired poem entitled “Nature’s Magicians”.
Martien Van Beeck is an artist based in Ghent, Belgium. His painting “Sky #32” is from an ongoing series of cloudy skies
Guo Wei, Member 57,319, wrote this poem after seeing Circumzenithal Arc when leaving home one morning. The image shared here was taken on a walk in Beichen Mountain, Xiamen, China
《解构与重组——环天顶弧之歌》
每一天
我站在原地
万事万物流过我
以气息、话语、文字
咀嚼的质地
或只是纯粹明暗的光线
渐变的波长、频谱
穿透我
用一切确定与不确定性，将我
扭转、分散、符号化
风把我的碎片卷曲、打包
投向高空的尘埃和冰晶，以及大气中
无法自证其存在的颗粒
于是我习惯性在清早眺望太阳凝望的方向
终见天空微笑
© Guo Wei
Michelle Purves, Member 59,285, is besotted by clouds and she tells us “my passion is to paint the ever illusory, changing, ethereal beauty that connects sky to the landscape. In Australia my inspiration comes from the remote pristine inlets, and the continuum of soaring skies”.
Sherman Schapiro (Member 56,083) of Eureka, CA, USA wrote this Haiku after seeing the Cloud-a-Day of 14th August 2022. We’ve accompanied it with the image used in that Cloud-a-Day which was taken by Celia Quinn (member 53,053) and shows Cirrus uncinus clouds over Mount Pinos in the Transverse Ranges, South California, US
Cirrus uncinus
Those wispy wonders;
Kitelike clouds fly high above,
Spirits in the sky.
© Sherman Schapiro
Videographer, Gregory Volkov sent in this video capturing the sunset after a storm in Sarasota Florida, 2018.
